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I see in today’s news that a 14-year-old boy has been charged with a hate crime for shooting a 15-year-old gay classmate at an Oxnard, Calif. junior high school.

This kind of thing didn’t happen when I was a young bunny, and it’s impossible for me to believe that America’s violent entertainment culture (movies, TV shows, and video games) has nothing to do with it.

I think this culture desensitizes children. It teaches them to think of real life as a movie or video game: When you shoot the “bad guy” he gets up again. Death has lost its meaning.

Couple this with rightwing extremist ideology and I can see a new generation of Hitler Youth emerging.

Dems won’t have nominee until August. So it’ll boil down to a 2 month campaign. In the meantime, McCain will barbeque Obama for being an empty skirt. All of a sudden people will figure out he’s not really The Messiah.

I hope somebody gets pictures of her fingernail gouges in the podium as they drag her big fat fucking ass away, and sent to the shitcan of history where her and Bubba belong.

Plenty of people got called a fag and punched and kicked for their, alleged, sexual orientation at my high school. So, I guess we were about halfway between your idealic youth and todays craziness in the 80’s.

hey pudbutt – if 78% of Americans disapprove of Bush, which of the five 16%’s of us do you keep referring to? keep in mind that come november you’ll have four different 16%’s to rail at, and that oughta keep you busy for awhile. hopefully for the next 8 years. whine away!

according to the Secret Service, there were “no lapses” in security at Obama rallies in Dallas and elsewhere when weapons screening was halted as the venues filled. This was part of a “comprehensive and layered security plan” for Obama.

so… their “plan” which has “layers” allows people with weapons into the venue where Obama is speaking. check.

one question: is that how they do it for Bush?

details from the Miami Herald:

BY JACK DOUGLAS JR. McClatchy News Service

DALLAS — The U.S. Secret Service on Friday defended their handling of security during a massive rally in downtown Dallas for Barack Obama, saying there was no ”lapse” in their ”comprehensive and layered security plan” which called for some people to be checked for weapons, while others were not.

A report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that said some security measures were lifted during Wednesday’s rally sparked a public outrage across the country, with most people saying they were shocked that a routine weapons search was lifted at the front gates of Reunion Arena an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage.

@11 I don’t remember any fag-bashing incidents in my high school. My classmates were just regular guys who got into traditional kinds of trouble: One accidentally killed himself sniffing glue, and another intentionally set the local Safeway on fire.

At the heart of the McCain lobbying scandal is 2 letters the senator wrote to the FCC on behalf of Paxson Communications. The company wanted to buy a Pittsburgh TV station, but regulatory approval was stalled in the FCC bureaucracy. In this letter, McCain avoided asking for approval, but pushed the FCC to decide one way or the other.

Knowing the New York Times was working on a story, McCain hired Washington lawyer Bill Bennett to work up a defense. According to Newsweek, Bennett “organized a massive document search and met with Times editors and reporters to show them that … [t]he campaign could find no record of either Iseman or her client, Paxson, meeting with McCain to ask for those letters to the FCC requesting a decision on the Pittsburgh TV station.”

Meanwhile, Newsweek reports, the McCain campaign “insisted that he had not been contacted by … Paxson Communications … on the … two letters … McCain … sent to the Federal Communications Commission.”

Gotcha!

Newsweek has come up with a deposition from a 2002 lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law in which McCain testified under oath that “he was personally lobbied by Lowell (Bud) Paxson, the president of Paxson Communications — and possibly Paxson’s lobbyist, Iseman” and “acknowledged in the deposition that his relationship with Paxson — flying on the corporate jet, taking $20,000 in campaign contributions — would ‘absolutely’ look corrupt to the ordinary voter.”

In addition, Newsweek reports, “Paxson told The Washington Post last week that he recalled lobbying McCain about the FCC issue in a meeting in the senator’s office set up by Iseman.”

So, at a minimum, the McCain campaign’s spin that he wasn’t lobbied by Paxson is false.

In addition, McCain denies that any of his staffers tried to block Iseman’s access to the senator or warned Iseman that her relationship with the senator was “inappropriate,” but Newsweek has independently confirmed those allegations by conducting its own interviews with McCain staffers.

Roger Rabbit Commentary: This scandal isn’t about sex. It’s about a politician who claims to be a straight talker and a straight shooter turning out to be just another prevaricating politician. That doesn’t make him worse than politicians in general. But it does make him a politician who pretends to be something he isn’t.

As for the troll deniers on HA, you could wave a certified transcript of McCain’s deposition testimony in front of their noses, and they would still say it was nothing but a “liberal media” plot to smear McCain.

That’s right, the official orders have been cut in Republican Propaganda Central, so all the bleating sheep are now supposed to say “smear, smear, smear!” And they will. Because. They. Are. Sheep.

heheehe It sure is entertaining to see Hilliary getting creamed. If Obama doesn’t get the nomination there will be a lot of angry folks. I wonder how they will react to endless accusations of the nomination being stolen??? Who would make such a accusation??? hehehehehe I don’t know… hehehehe

As for the troll deniers on HA, you could wave a certified transcript of McCain’s deposition testimony in front of their noses, and they would still say it was nothing but a “liberal media” plot to smear McCain.

Dan Rather got fired, which leaves us to wonder, when Fixed Noise stuck a “D” after Rep. Mark Foley’s name, was it the fact that no one got fired for it that leads you to believe Fixed Noise can be trusted with facts?

@45 The funny thing about that whole Dan Rather deal is that the documents in question were never proved to be forgeries and the story that Rather used them to support was accurate. The colonel’s former secretary confirmed the content of the originals.

Which is why they elected more of them to governorships and to to the house and senate than conservatives.

You know the folks at Google and Apple aren’t exactly conservative and people seem to be eating up their products. Same with Starbucks and Trek Bikes. It’s the conservative run businesses that seem to to be in trouble as of late.

@36 (continued) Oh, and one more thing … I don’t see Dan Rather’s name in the story credits, to wit:

“By Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff | NEWSWEEK”

The stupid mutt wins the Baaa Baaa Trophy for being the first bleating sheep to become a denier in this thread. Congratulations, cur. You’re even more useless than dogs in general. 02/23/2008 at 8:41 pm

So now Newsweek “flush a Koran down a toilet” is suddenly credible???? Hehehehe Donks are such liars that now they are smearing people who point out the lies of their smears.

@45 The funny thing about that whole Dan Rather deal is that the documents in question were never proved to be forgeries …

Who gives a shit. Its when they prove that they are not forgeries they will become credible. See BS sure has their doubts, they did get rid of Rather. Of course the economy for liberal propagandists has been terrible for the last 20 years. heehehe

I strongly believe (admitedly without proof) that the forgeries were a Republican hit job. Changed the topic from Bush’s clear abandonment of his reserve obligations to Dan Rather. Why are Bush’s records missing?

@69 Because they were folded, spindled, stapled, mutilated, shredded, and burned by Bush’s friends in Texas. And, for good measure, they probably poured acid over the ashes, encased them in radioactive plutonium, and dropped them into the Atlantic.

I strongly believe (admitedly without proof) that the forgeries were a Republican hit job. Changed the topic from Bush’s clear abandonment of his reserve obligations to Dan Rather. Why are Bush’s records missing? 02/23/2008 at 9:05 pm

Why, does Bush have them??? Were they misplaced by Hillary along with his FBI files???

Today in the Washington Post, Joseph Margulies and George Brent Mickum — defense attorneys for Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubaydah — describe the prisoner’s mental insanity after being held by the United States for years:

Regardless of whether he was “insane” to begin with, he has gone through quite an ordeal since his arrest in Pakistan in March 2002. Shuttled through CIA “black sites” around the world, he was subjected to a sustained course of interrogation designed to instill what a CIA training manual euphemistically calls “debility, dependence and dread.” Zubaydah’s world became freezing rooms alternating with sweltering cells. Screaming noise replaced by endless silence. Blinding light followed by dark, underground chambers. Hours confined in contorted positions. And, as we recently learned, Zubaydah was subjected to waterboarding. We do not know what remains of his mind, and we will probably never know what he experienced.

They added that “if we cannot learn the facts and share them with others, the truth is only what the administration reports it to be.”

Some of you wingnuts will argue that this terrorist deserved this treatment. And I’ll agree, if he is indeed guilty, he should be punished; but not like this. We show ourselves to be no better than the “evil-doers.

Shuttled through CIA “black sites” around the world, he was subjected to a sustained course of interrogation designed to instill what a CIA training manual euphemistically calls “debility, dependence and dread.” Zubaydah’s world became freezing rooms alternating with sweltering cells. Screaming noise replaced by endless silence. Blinding light followed by dark, underground chambers. Hours confined in contorted positions. And, as we recently learned, Zubaydah was subjected to waterboarding. We do not know what remains of his mind, and we will probably never know what he experienced.

They added that “if we cannot learn the facts and share them with others, the truth is only what the administration reports it to be.”

Some of you wingnuts will argue that this terrorist deserved this treatment. And I’ll agree, if he is indeed guilty, he should be punished; but not like this. We show ourselves to be no better than the “evil-doers.

Hmmmm Would I rather be thrown into a chilly room after a swelter room,subjected to noise, thrown in a dark room after being subject to blinding light or burn to death in a 1,000 foot building and once I cant stand the heat jump to my death. Yep, tough one. roll eyes

I wonder if this will be the year that John Kerry will release his medical records and collect the one million dollar prize. Maybe he will match the funds and donate it to military families of fallen soldiers like our great patriot Rush Limbaugh did with the famous letter sold on ebay. GOD that was awesome. 4 million dollars.

Here ya go wingnuts. Read about the great job your glorious leader is doing with the US Army. Read about the poor bastards going crazy being stop-lossed, as Bush destroys the military, until they finally get maimed or shot dead. Every supporter of George W. Bush betrays this country’s military.

“I square it one way,” McCain said. “The right to represent interests or groups of Americans is a constitutional right. There are people that represent firemen, civil servants, retirees, and those people are legitimate representatives of a variety of interests in America.” Jon McCain

Only trouble is, non of those lobbyists are on the McCain campaign. Looks mighty fishy.

Ah not this crap again. If any of you liberals ever want to let the military elect the next president I am in. Just as long as cheating donks are not the one counting the ballots. It wouldn’t even be close.

All this fuss about the military by the Dimcorats is crocodile tears. The real story behind th claims that the military hospitals and the VA aren’t ood enough is socialized medcine! Just visit a VA hopital, .. it even smells socialist. The patients are the ideal comie workers .. totally depenent o the State!

If we really cared about our ex military we would close all the VAs. Military pay should include insurance adequate to pay for private insurance able to cover any injuries inflicted while in service. Better yet, we should give each soldier a choice of cash or continued care insurance!

Of course what do you expect from a bunch of chickenhawks? Their party leader is a draft dodger who went AWOL. The VP “had other priorities” when it was time to go to Nam. Their supporters on right wing radio all ducked service when they had the chance. Yet they hold forth that they are “strong on national defense.” Yea – as long as it’s some poor black or Mexican kid going to do the actual fighting.

Well now – looks like McCain is in ANOTHER pickle – one partly of his own making – the other part caused by GOP politics – how sweet is this!

The Republican chairman of the Federal Elections Commission said that he may not be able to drop out of the presidential public financing system. If he can’t, he could be outspent by the Democratic nominee by 10-to-1 – or more – before the GOP convention in September. Because of a dispute in the Senate over one of President Bush’s nominees to the agency, the FEC lacks a quorum to hear McCain’s case. Too funny.

The rise of democratic frontrunner Barack Obama signifies an alarming victory of style over substance. Not unlike the dot-com hype, his campaign promises more than he can deliver. The one thing his voters can count on is that they will ultimately be disappointed. …And Osama bin Laden and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be the real winners of the 2008 American presidential election.http://www.spiegel.de/internat.....32,00.html

Harper’s Scott Horton has been following and reporting on the story of Karl Rove’s limitless crusade to destroy Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama about as closely as anyone can follow a story. Yesterday, Scott emailed to say:

You should alert your readers to watch 60 Minutes on Sunday for an extremely important piece. They will learn how at the instigation of Karl Rove, the Justice Department was turned into a political hit machine to destroy the reputation and ultimately imprison AL governor Don Siegelman on accusations which do not constitute, no matter how you parse it, a crime. . . .

It’s an extraordinary, deep peek into a hopelessly corrupt Justice Department. They’ve been struggling to keep the lid on this story for two years. And on Sunday it is going to blow.

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